


coven days

by hyunjinleewrites04



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Bipolar Disorder, Crying, Fainting, SKZ make appearances but aren't actually skz, Supernatural Elements, Violence, chan faints sometimes, chan is tiny, chan jisung and finley have fidget/stim toys, chan sorta gets babied a lot but he's not a pussy and can get really scary when xe's mad, chan uses neopronouns, channie stims a lot, i love neopronouns goddamnit, so do jisung and finley but channie stims a lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 07:27:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28347642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyunjinleewrites04/pseuds/hyunjinleewrites04
Summary: A dragon hybrid who's just really fuckin' tiredA cat hybrid who will prank everyone and anything in the world and only answers to "kitten", not "cat"A merperson who bullies said cat hybridA demon and angel who will annoy each other to the deathA sound witch who is a sensitive baby in the form of a hunky AustralianA water witch who has absolutely no fucking idea what she's doingA cosmic witch who has absolutely every fucking idea what she's doingA wolf hybrid who just wants head pats (chan does too but xe'll never admit it out loud)idk what the fuck this is but enjoy
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. what is college?...stop going. til we figure it out.

**Author's Note:**

> this chapter's mainly finley-centric and chan-centric (there's gonna be a lot of those two because they and jisung are my favourite characters so buckle up buttercups)
> 
> Finley has a meltdown and Chan comes close to having one, and the coven handles it.  
> Warnings: passing out, racist (specist) teacher, arguing

Finley groaned and opened moon's eyes groggily, sunlight pouring into moon's room through the window. Moon stretched moon's arms up and let them fall back on moon's bed. _Why does this class have to be so early?_ The kitten thought tiredly.

Suddenly the lights snapped on and Finley yelped at the unexpected brightness. “Why?” Moon shrieked.

“Time to get up, Finnie!” Tyler singsonged as he flickered the lights on and off, folding his wings a bit to fit through the door frame.

“Don’t you dare try to charmspeak me into waking up, I will poison your coffee.” Finley grumbled as moon sat up in moon's bed, stretching moon's tail out from behind moon's back. “Yeah, okay, whatever, get up. Breakfast is on the table, peanut butter bagels.” Tyler smiled as he left the room, leaving the lights on. Finley closed moon's eyes and pumped moon's fist.

“Yes,” moon whispered.

Bagels.

“Sam, I swear to the Ancestors, fold your wings in the bathroom! I can’t see the mirror!” Finley heard Megan snap at the vampire. Moon groaned again and flopped back onto moon's back. As moon listened to the vampire and the witch bicker back and forth, moon let a small smile form on moon lips. _Today will be a good day_ , moon thought.

After eating breakfast, Finley went out to the backyard pool to say good morning to Jisung and Alice. The merperson could transform love’s tail into legs whenever lo felt like it, but Jisung wanted to let Alice practice her craft on their tail to let lo walk into the house. Moon found moon's best friend in the pool floating by Alice, the water witch conjuring up one of her aquatic spells, and Sasha sitting on one of the benches watching with amusement.

“Hey, fishy, fishy. Sorry I don’t have any worms for you to eat.” Finley grinned as moon scampered out to sit next to Alice at the gigantic pool where moon's best friend was relaxing with love’s eyes closed.

“Go chase a mouse, you bitty kitty. Don’t you have classes this morning or something?” The merperson grumbled, not opening love’s eyes.

“Um, excuse you, I’m taller than you are when you’re in human form! And yes, I do, but I thought I’d be a good friend and come visit you before I went!” The kitten said indignantly. Moon flipped moon's golden hair over moon's shoulder sassily.

“Guys, stop it, I can’t focus!” Alice huffed, her aquatic spell barely taking shape. She lost control over the small water sphere and it splashed all over her, soaking her day clothes. “Damn it! I thought I had it that time!” Alice groaned. She sighed and flipped her legs to hang over the side of the pool, and Jisung swam over to the ledge and perched themself on their arms near Alice’s seat.

“You’ll get it soon enough, Ally. You just need a little more practice. And it would definitely help if this little imp-”, Lo jabbed a finger over love’s shoulder at Finley, who squawked indignantly, “-didn’t distract us. But you know you’re powerful, so you got this.” Jisung said matter-of-factly.

“While I take offense to being called an imp - they are ugly and I am not - Sung’s right. Don’t sweat it, Alice. You’ll be whipping up arcana with Megan and Chan in no time.” Finley said, curling moon's tail into a hug around Alice. Alice looked up at both of them, a brighter look in her eyes. “Thanks guys.” 

"Hey, how about you practice that spell later; we have classes soon and we don’t wanna be late.” Sasha piped up from his spot on the bench, his tail swishing back and forth.

“Sounds good. Hey, Finnie, what kinda stuff we have for breakfast?” Jisung grinned at the kitten

“Bagels!” Finley screeched, scampering up and through the door to the kitchen with moon's fists pumping in the air.

“Goddamnit.” Jisung muttered under love’s breath.

Lo hated bagels.

After Jisung transformed to love’s human form, lo and Finley fought over whether the group with morning classes would drive or fly to campus. Max stuffed his face with more bagels while arguing with Leo. Sam pulled on their long sleeves and wide-brimmed hat that made them look like a Californian tourist while Alice applied sun cream to their nose, and Jeongin and Woozi hopped into Chan’s hoodie pocket. It was decided that Finley, Max and Mingo would fly to the campus while Chan, Jisung and Alice would drive to their classes. Sam wanted to go to the beach, so they left to do that. Devya had to run a heroic errand as usual, so he would fly with the three since they were going in the same direction.

“Me and Sasha are gonna bake some cupcakes for you guys to come back to, but Max and Leo only get them if they get along.” Megan looked pointedly at the demon and the angel, watching as they immediately started fighting over who was better behaved.

"Don't worry, me and Sam will babysit them. Right, Fangs?" Finley quipped, poking the bat's cheek gently with a grin on moon's face. 

**< yes to babysitting, no to 'fangs'. don't worry about it, meg, they'll be fine.>** Mingo thoughtspoke reassuringly.

"I'm pretty sure I'm older than the both of you combined, but whatever. Sure, you mortals can babysit me." Max rolled their eyes.

 **< uh, i'm 5045 in vamp years, bud. and finley's...what, 150 in kitten years?>** Mingo furrowed his brow and looked at the younger for confirmation.

"I'm 187! Jeez, am I that young-looking?" Finley exclaimed.

"I mean, that teacher did ask you if you were a sophomore shadow for Music Production, but I never said anything." Chan grinned, twisting xyr fidget chain in between xyr hands. 

"He also asked you if you were a zombie hybrid, Channie!" The kitten singsonged as moon grabbed moon's messenger bag from its place on the coat rack and ran out the door.

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT I LIVE IN A HOUSE WITH HOOLIGANS THAT DON'T SLEEP!"

"I mean..."

"Don't say anything. Just say nothing."

* * *

"Leo, are you allowed to look in mirrors?" Max asked out of nowhere as the four college kids flew over to their campus. Finley and Mingo looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Uh, yeah, duh. Why?" Devya asked warily, chancing a glance at the demon.

"Nah, just wondering if you know how ugly you are?" Max grinned as he swooped down to fly in front of the angel. 

"Do you really think that's something I would take offense to?" Devya asked incredulously, widening his eyes comically. 

**< shut up, you two. don't you _want_ megan's cupcakes?>** Mingo sniped, glaring at the bickering duo. _Why do_ I _always get babysitting duty?_ The familiar bemoaned to himself. 

"Seriously, me and Sung don't even fight as much as you two, jeez." Finley added. Finley flew a lot faster than the rest of them because moon was a lot lighter than them, but had slowed down moon's pace today to accommodate the others. 

"That's 'cause you and Jisung are friends but you guys have an affectionate insultive dynamic." Devya said.

"What the fuck is that?" The kitten asked.

"It's how you and Jisung show your friendship for each other. You pretend to hate each other but that's how you guys say 'You're a great friend and I'm gonna annoy you and the rest of my coven 'til the end of time.'" Max explained.

"It doesn't apply to me and Max because we hate each other for real and you and Jisung do not hate each other." Devya added.

"Exactly." 

Finley and Mingo looked at each other. **< did...you guys just agree on something?>** Mingo asked carefully.

"Yeah, why?" The demon and angel both said in unison, then shot each other a bewildered look.

"Yep. Shoulda stayed home today." Finley grumbled under moon's breath as the four touched down on campus and Devya flew off to do God knows what.

* * *

Sasha and Megan had a pretty uneventful day. They baked cupcakes, went to the grocery store, battled it out in Mario Kart, covered Max's room with Post-It notes, came up with an idea to run a really angry coffee shop called "I Hate Mondays" (trademark pending), napped, made and ate ramen with Sam (the beach got way too hot), napped again, and were now playing Mario Kart again.

The three's shouting and trash talking were interrupted as the front door slammed open and voices filled the entrance. They whipped their heads around to see their fellow coven members: Max and Devya were arguing (per usual); Finley seemed to be unconscious and was draped over Max's back (not per usual); Jisung was holding onto moon's hand, maybe keeping check of moon's pulse?; Chan was stimming harshly with xyr fidget pad and emitting little noises of discomfort; Jeongin, in human form along with the other two familiars, was trying to keep Chan calm from the noise with an arm wrapped around the small Australian; Mingo, Woozi and Alice were just trying to guide Max to the kitchen, shaking their heads and bickering with the others.

"Get moon into the goddamn den you useless horn boy!" Jisung screeched.

"Guys, please don't fight-" Chan tried timidly, but was cut off by Devya.

"All due respect, shut it Channie, Max _is_ useless-"

"Don't you tell Channie to shut up, you glorified Valentine's Day baby-" Jeongin growled, bringing Chan closer into his chest with one arm and pointing at Devya with his free hand.

" _Innie-_ " 

"There is an _unconscious cat_ on my _back,_ people-"

"Shut the fuck up and just get moon into the den-" 

Sasha rolled his eyes and assumed his second-in-command-leader voice (Tyler and he had agreed that Sasha was in charge when the dragon wasn't around). "Hey! What the fuck is goin' on here?" He barked. Everyone quieted down, minus Chan who whimpered a bit at the volume. 

"Finnie had a meltdown and then passed out and we had to come home from classes early." Jeongin explained, bringing his arm around Chan's shoulder to comfort xem. 

"Where's Tyler? He'd handle this better than these hooligans." Alice snarked, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder at the demon and angel (earning an indignant "Hey!" from both). 

"Uh, Tyler's out...hoarding, I guess? I don't actually know, he just came downstairs with a bag that said "SHINIES" on it and said he'd be back around 3. When did moon pass out?" Megan asked, standing up and making her way over to the unconscious kitten still on Max's back. 

"About 10 minutes after the meltdown." Jisung answered immediately. From that Megan knew Jisung was with moon through the whole meltdown. 

"Were there any cues leading up to it?" Sam asked, also standing up and walking over to Max and pulling Finley off of the demon. 

"No, it was pretty sudden, the Music Prod substitute was being really specist to specifically Chan and Finley." Woozi piped up. 

Sam carried the kitten bridal-style into the living room, knowing that while moon's room might be the go-to solution for most people, Finley didn't like to be there after meltdowns. _"Bad memories_ ", moon'd once said. They laid Finley down to rest on the sofa and covered moon with a blanket, and Jisung and Chan immediately sat down next to moon and each took one of moon's hands. 

"She wasn't being specist, Innie, she was just. Very opinionated, that's all." Chan tried to reason, xyr voice stronger now that the volume had lowered.

"No she wasn't, Chan, I could feel both your auras from my Psych class. She was a bitch and as soon as I learn how I'm going to hex her laundry dryer to never work." Alice countered, walking into the kitchen and starting some macaroni and cheese for everyone. 

"I'll help you with the spellcasting, but right now let's focus on Finnie and Channie. Fin should be good after a nap, but moon probably won't be verbal when moon wakes up. And Channie, you're stimming really bad." Jisung brought the coven's attention to the sound witch.

"It's nothing, just a little overwhelmed. I'm fine, promise." Chan tried for a smile. Jeongin looked at Sasha and Megan and shook his head no over Chan's platinum curls. _Hasn't slept in days and got agitated at the sub,_ the familiar mouthed to the wolf and witch. 

Sasha nodded and went to sit down next to Chan, who got a bit nervous from the attention. "Channie, you wanna take a break and go to the coffee house with Megan and Mingo?" The wolf hybrid asked quietly. He was shocked when after a moment's hesitation, the sound witch nodded slightly. _It must have been really bad for xem to agree without prodding,_ he thought. 

"I'll go with them too. I want an Iced Americano." Max said, standing from where he'd taken a seat at the kitchen island and stretching his wings. "Oh, and I'm female now. So lemme just-" she closed her eyes and concentrated, and her ripped jeans and t-shirt were replaced with a black skirt, black high heels, chains and a striped turtleneck. "-there we go." Max said, smirking at Devya's gaping mouth. 

"Sheesh." Megan rolled her eyes. "Okay, so Ji, Alice, Devya, Sasha and Sam are staying here with Fin, Tyler's out looking for his 'shinies', and Max, Mingo, Channie, Jeongin and I are going to the coffee house. Is that everyone?" 

"Yep. Have fun, guys." Sasha confirmed, waving the five out the door. He sighed, flopped down on the second sofa, and looked at the three still standing. "Devya, you're cleaning the dishes as consequence for fighting with Max. Alice and Sam...go do whatever, just don't die." Sasha instructed, ignoring Devya's noise of complaint. 

_These kids will be the death of me,_ he thought tiredly. 

* * *

The five had come back from the coffeehouse around 2:30, Chan looking visibly happier as xe laughed at whatever joke Jeongin made, and the coven gathered around to watch TV and wait for Finley to wake up. They all looked up when Tyler walked in the door (shiny-less), panting and kicking it closed with his tail.

 **< where are your 'shinies'?> **Woozi asked, having reverted back to familiar form. The group snickered at the name and looked expectantly at Tyler. 

"I don't want to talk about it." The dragon panted, making his way over to where Sasha was reclining on the sofa and flopping on top of him. 

"PFFT-Tyler, get off, you're heavy-" Sasha struggled underneath the older for a minute before relenting to his fate. 

A small whimper from the other sofa caught all their attention, and the coven whipped around to see Finley starting to wake up. 

"What...the _fuck_..." The kitten groaned again, sitting up and stretching moon's tail out. 

"Mornin', sleepyhead." Jisung grinned at the younger and lightly smacked moon's arm. "Don't you dare pass out on me again without proper warning and a neon sign saying 'Catch me'." 

"Did...did you _not_ catch me?" The kitten asked groggily, still not entirely awake. 

"Irrelevant." 


	2. i'll keep all my emotions right here, and then one day i'll die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finley's going through one of moon's days. Jisung helps.

As soon as Jisung walked into the house, they could tell it was going to be a rough day. They felt the tense energy emitting off Megan, Chan and Alice, the three witches sitting at the kitchen table. They also noticed when they looked over to see where Sasha was perched on the couch that his ears were up and pointed. 

“Is moon up?” Jisung asked quietly, trying to make the least amount of noise lo could. 

Chan’s eyes widened as xe frantically shook xyr head. 

**< <moon’s up and moon can hear everything except for the locked thought-channel.>> **Xe warned. Megan and Alice nodded in agreement. 

**< <where are tyler and devya and all them?>>** Jisung asked.

 **< <they went to buy groceries and first aid supplies.>> **Sasha replied, not looking at the merperson but still sitting straight up on the couch, facing the staircase with his ears still pointed. 

**< <has anyone gone to check on moon yet?>> **Jisung asked, looking around the kitchen. 

**< <it’s too dangerous, you know that. only you and tyler can even get near moon when moon has these days, ji.>>** Alice countered, making Jisung pause. 

**< <wait, so...** **_none_ ** **of you have checked on moon. at all. knowing that moon’s unwell and scared and in pain. i mean, i get it with channie and sasha but one of you guys could’ve just peeked in on moon? >> ** The merperson looked at Megan and Alice, incredulous. Look, lo understood that they were a bit scared of how Finley reacted to things when this happened, but 1) there were three witches and a wolf hybrid in the room, and 2) it was _Finley._ They should know moon wouldn’t hurt anyone badly; moon was too inside moon's head to be able to use moon's magick. 

Jisung’s thoughts were interrupted as a heart wrenching wail rang through the house. _“Please!”_ Finley’s voice pierced the air, thick with tears and sounding like moon had been stabbed. Sasha and Chan both winced at the volume, Chan’s eyes tearing up because of xyr sensitivity to sound. 

**< <ji, we know you’d rather someone check on moon, but chan and sasha can barely be down ** **_here_ ** **without being in pain because of the volume; look at chan, xe’s literally crying because of it. we stayed down here in case either of them got hurt badly. you’re better able to help moon right now, not us. >> **Megan, as always, had a good point. She got up, very quietly, and sat down with Chan to rub circles on xyr back, trying to calm xem down. 

Jisung sighed. **< <damn your omni-knowledge.>>**

 **< <comes with the territory.>> **Megan gave Jisung a weak smile, and Chan looked up at love shyly. Xyr head probably still hurt, Jisung figured. 

**< <i’m sorry, sung. i wish i could do more for moon. will you take care of moon for us?>> **Xe asked timidly. Jisung internally cooed at the older; Chan really was just a tiny baby in the form of a hunky Australian. 

**< <of course, channie. just feel better, okay?>> ** Lo smiled, lacing love’s thoughtspeak with a bit of charmspeak to ease the sound witch’s pain. Lo saw Chan visibly relax a bit and nodded. 

**< <good luck.>> ** sasha piped up. **< <i’ll keep listening in case you need backup.>>**

Jisung nodded, took a deep breath, and quietly made their way to the staircase. They tentatively put their foot on the first step, trying to will away the creak of the wood. 

Poseidon was on love’s side today; the step stayed silent. 

Jisung slowly made love’s way up the staircase, noting the aura of intense fear and anger in the hallway. Alice was right; only Tyler and loveself could get near Finley when moon had moon's...days. They weren’t even sure what to call these days; Tyler told Jisung that after the first time he’d seen Finley like this, moon’d described it as a time where moon's head was clouded with an intense panic of moon's surroundings. Moon’d heard a growling voice in moon's head, screaming at moon to get away from whatever was scaring moon so badly, to _kill it._ It was so overwhelming to the point where Finley wasn’t even aware of moon's surroundings or the beings in them. 

Jisung stopped in front of Finley’s room door and took a deep breath. They figured that the best way to talk to moon was to use thoughtspeak, so they opened a mindlink and reached out for the kitten’s purple aura. 

**< <fins? can you hear me, kitten?>> **Jisung reached out carefully. 

A scream ripped through the house again. _“I DON’T WANT TO!”_ Jisung winced, feeling Chan’s energy aura fade and they just knew xe passed out. But they also knew they had to try again. 

**< <fin, kitty, i need you to give me some kind of sign if you can hear me, okay? can you do that?>> **Jisung tried. 

**< <** **_JISUNG!_ ** **> > **Finley’s voice screamed in love’s mind, a plea for help that only Jisung could answer at that moment. 

**< <** **_too loud, too loud, TOO LOUD >>_ **

**< <honey, can i come into your room so i can help keep you safe?>>** The merperson tried. Lo knew the voice in love’s best friend’s head screamed at moon to get away from something that it believed could hurt moon. If lo played into that, maybe the voice would let love in. 

**< <** **_please, jisung, help me ple- >>_ **

**_< <WHO ARE YOU?>>_ ** **** A different voice almost knocked Jisung off their feet. They stepped back, bewildered, as they heard another heart-wrenching wail rip out. They’d helped Finley through these days for almost a year now, and they’d _never_ heard that aura. 

**< <fin, i’m coming in.>> **Jisung muttered a quick apology to Chan, knowing xe could hear love even in unconsciousness, and kicked the door open. 

Amid a shattered vase, books and clothes strewn around the room, and water and dead flowers, Lo found Finley almost hidden in the corner of the room in an oversized hoodie and moon's boxers. Moon's tail was wrapped around one of moon's arms and moon was curled up in a violently trembling ball, tears streaming down moon's face as moon struggled to pull oxygen into moon's lungs. Moon's arms tightened around moon's body, claws scratching at moon's arms and pulling at moon's hair and ears. 

**< <** **HELP PLEASE I CAN’T- _> >_ **

**_< <GET AWAY, KILL THEM, KILL THEM FELINE->>_ **

A whimper forced itself from the kitten’s throat, threatening to become louder. 

“Finley...It’s Jisung. Your friend. Can you see me?” Jisung tried, keeping love’s distance from the younger. 

“Only the roses can see, only the roses can see, _only the roses can see-”_ Finley’s voice wavered as moon repeated the phrase over and over again, rocking back and forth in moon's corner. 

It was bad. Jisung closed love’s eyes. 

**< <fin, can you try to focus on me?>>**

“Only the roses can see, _only the roses can see, ONLY THE ROSES CAN SEE!”_ Finley screamed, finally tearing moon's gaze from straight ahead of moon to Jisung’s face. 

**< <good job sweetheart, you’re doing so well for me. can you talk to me, honey?>>**

“Gone, gone, gone, away, no, no, no, no, please, _please, PLEASE-”_

**< <i’m going missing, it’s dragging me away, the roses will know but they won’t tell, the roses will know but they won’t tell, i’m going, i’m gone, it’s gone, it’s all gone, whereamiwhoamiiamnotme->>**

Jisung’s eyes filled with tears. Why did the Fates decide to torture someone who’d already been through way too much?  
Lo took a deep breath and a huge risk: lo surged forward and grabbed Finley by the shoulders. 

Fae screamed, sobs wracking moon's tiny trembling frame as moon fought to get out of the merperson’s grip. Being closer to the kitten, Jisung saw Finley had bruises on moon's face, blood underneath moon's claws, and a black eye. Moon got a few punches and kicks in, but Jisung’s magick made love way stronger than the smaller. They closed their eyes and visualized their mindlink aura, infusing their messages with charmspeak, then locked eye contact with the shaking ball of limbs underneath them. Jisung knew Finley wasn’t entirely in control because of the glassy look in moon's eyes. 

**< <you are finley aer. you are a kitten-human hybrid. you use neopronouns and cry when someone accidentally steps on an ant outside. you love bunnies and can beat a silver dragon’s ass and he’s a freaking powerhouse. you are finley aer and you are HERE.>>**

Finley gasped, the glassy look almost shattering as moon seemed to snap back into reality. 

**< <NO COME BACK KILL THEM FELINE->>**

**< <you are not welcome here, creature. leave my friend and all others in this house in peace, or suffer the consequences.>>**

A dark energy suddenly made itself visible in the center of Finley’s chest, the kitten crying out in pain as moon grabbed at Jisung's hoodie in desperation. Moon screamed as Jisung watched the energy force itself away from the kitten’s body, and Finley slumped forward into Jisung’s arms. Sobs pulled themselves from moon's body as moon curled into Jisung’s body, small hands gripping their sweatshirt. 

“Shh, shh, I gotcha. I’m right here, you’re okay now. Everything’s okay now. You’re safe, kitten. I gotcha.” Jisung whispered, holding the kitten closer until moon was in their lap. 

“I-I’m-I’m s-sorry, p-please don’t k-kick me out, pl-ease…” Finley choked out.

“Oh baby, no, we’re not going to kick you out, you can’t control this. We’re gonna figure this out, okay?” Jisung said softly, using love’s sleeve to gently wipe the tears from Finley’s cheeks. 

They sat like that for a while, just waiting for the worst of the shaking to subside. Jisung just kept rubbing circles on Finley’s back, whispering little words of comfort until the younger pulled back just a bit to be able to look Jisung in the eye. 

“Did...Did I hurt you?” The kitten sniffled. 

“No, baby, I’m fine...we need to get you cleaned up though, you did a number on yourself.” Jisung smiled sadly. 

“S-Sungie...it hu-urts…” Finley whimpered. 

“You can rest, baby. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.” The merperson whispered. 

"I...I can..." Finley tried to ask, but those two words seemed to sap any and all strength moon had left. 

“You can rest, kitty. You can rest now.” 

That was the last thing Finley heard before moon's eyes rolled into the back of moon's head and moon fell limp in Jisung’s arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, got some angsty shit but it'll get better (i think, fuck if i know at this point)


	3. STREET SMARTS-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> old dead thing: sam  
> father dragon: tyler  
> watergirl: alice  
> God: megan  
> mama wolf: sasha  
> God's friend: devya

_Out of curiosity, the pale boy asked the older dragon, “So what kind of things do you collect other than shiny things?”_

_After a moment, the green-scaled creature replied, "Love."_

* * *

When Tyler first met Finley Aer, he was 16 years old - in _dragon_ years, which tells you how long they’ve known each other. The dragon had just found some spare nickels to add to his silver collection and was gleefully walking to the subway when he heard a noise - only dragon senses would have picked up on it. He paused in his tracks and twisted around, ignoring the annoyed passersby as he sniffed the air for any danger. Tyler’s eyes widened as he picked up on a scent he hadn’t experienced in years - _a cat._

As his mind registered the smell, he saw a faint iridescent trail that led him in the opposite direction from the direction he had intended to go.

 _Just go home, you know what Mom said: don’t get involved and you’ll be fine,_ his inner wisdom advised him. 

But as soon as Tyler was about to concede with the small wise voice that was his, he heard the smallest whimper of agony and his mind was made up. He ducked into the nearest subway station and unfolded his green and silver scaled wings - much to the annoyance of pedestrians - and took off to the overcast New York City skies. 

He flew over the heads of millions of New Yorkers, knowing that with this kind of heavy foot traffic he’d be better off in the air. He kept his eyes on the iridescent trail, eventually leading him to a type of greenhouse about 10 minutes away from where he’d been before. Tyler flew to the back of the building and touched down to the earth, folding his wings behind him once more and making his way to the front of the building. Taking another breath in to discern the scent, he caught a whiff of cat, elf, and goblin. _Fuck,_ he thought. Elves and goblins? Never a good mix. 

He approached the entrance to the greenhouse with caution, hearing voices grow louder as he approached the double doors. _Shouting’s never good._ He thought. 

Before he knocked on the door, he opened a private thought-speak channel in his mind, laced with good energy to prevent anyone with bad intent from making use of it. 

**< <can anyone hear me? are you alright?>>** He asked, leaning against the railing and pulling out his phone to seem less suspicious. 

Someone entered his channel. **< <i can he- _ah-_ hear you.>>** A faint blue energy flitted through his mind. 

**< <are you in danger? i’m standing out on the front steps and heard arguing. should i come in?>> **Tyler asked, filling the message with his concern.

A pause. **< <y-you’re not human. a-are you gon-gonna hurt me?>>** The message was laced with fear. 

**< <i’m a silver and green dragon-human hybrid. i’m only dangerous to those who i feel deserve it.>> **Tyler replied, wincing at how that may have come off. 

**< <look, i’m going to come in and just check to see that nothing illegal or harmful is happening to anyone. if there isn’t, i’ll pretend i walked into the wrong building. if there is, i’m going to help whomever i think is right. does that sound fair?>> **The dragon reasoned. 

Another pause. **< <o-okay.>>** The message was filled with defeat and fatigue. Tyler pushed the door open. 

He walked through the greenhouse, now clearly hearing the voices screaming at each other, as well as objects being thrown and yelps of pain. How did he not hear those sounds beforehand? 

“- but you were the one who wanted to pull this shit, Alemya! I said I’d rough the place up a little bit, not hurt someone you brought here!” A raspy voice snapped. Tyler crept closer to the voices, three people coming into his view: a tall, tanned beanpole-looking elf with long pitch black hair and striking blue eyes and rigid posture; a short, attractive-enough, green-skinned goblin with pointy ears and dreadlocks; and a cat hybrid that Tyler would’ve absolutely mistaken for an elf or an angel had it not been for the distinct delicate ears. The cat was pale and thin, lying at the elf’s feet with bruises, cuts and a concerningly large gash on his face. The goblin was arguing with the elf, it seemed. 

“You agreed to come here and do as I asked, Niunde. Besides, what’s the big deal? It’s a _cat_ _,_ for Hera’s sake. It's a badly-behaved pet. You have a bratty one at home as well, and you hate its kind, do you not?” The elf asked, his voice elegant and soft. A sound like a kick, and a high yelp followed by a pained sob. 

“Goblins don’t like cats in the same way Argentinians don’t like Brasilians. I’d never be buddy-buddy with this kid, but I’m not gonna hurt him just because some wack-ass elf asked me to! I’m outta here, man.” The goblin - _Niunde_ , Tyler thought - yelled. As he turned to leave, though, he ran smack into Tyler’s chest. 

“Sorry, friend. I heard some yelling from outside and thought there might be some trouble. Is everything alright?” The dragon said calmly, a smile on his face. 

**< <kitten? can i ask you for a name i can use to address you? you’re obviously not doing anything wrong, and i want to help you.>> **

The elf turned away from the cat, giving Tyler a better view of the boy on the ground. “Our business doesn’t concern you, dragon. You may leave in peace.” The elf sneered. The cat lifted his head off the floor a bit, his eyes glassy and filled with unshed tears. He met Tyler’s gaze, and held it. 

**< <f=finley. my pronouns are m-moon/moonself.>> **

Tyler blinked. Okay. That’s...different. 

“Dragon.” The elf’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Tyler met the elf’s gaze. “Shall I leave a trail of nickels for you to find your way to the door?” 

“Jesus, Alemya, do you just love antagonizing everyone you meet?” Niunde groaned. The goblin looked up at Tyler with a grimace. “Sorry about the elf. He has an anger problem. We’ll be going now.” Niunde said, looking pointedly at Alemya. 

“You may leave whenever you like, Niunde. I will leave when I choose.” Alemya said without breaking eye contact with Tyler, a sharp edge in his tone. 

“Jesus…” Niunde muttered under his breath. “Well, look, I’m outta here. Like I said, I don’t hurt other people just ‘cause some wack-ass elf told me to. Good luck, Alemya.” He turned the corner and was out of sight. 

**< <niunde, my name is tyler. I’m the dragon-hybrid you just spoke to. are you willing to do a good deed?>> **Tyler opened his thought-speak channel and reached out to the goblin, while staring at Alemya. 

“Look, I don’t think I should leave until I know that this cat is safe. Moon’s bleeding and doesn’t even look like moon can get up without help. I don’t feel comfortable with that.” Tyler said calmly. 

**< <sure man, what do you need?>> **Tyler heard Niunde respond through the thought-channel. 

“I will not force you to do anything you feel uncomfortable doing, dragon. And I will not lie; I intend on punishing it. This little brat has disobeyed me, and I will not be leaving this place until I feel satisfied with it's punishment.” Alemya replied, putting emphasis on the word _it's_.

**< <i just need you to stay nearby this building in case your elf friend decides to retaliate to my actions.>> **

"May I ask what moon did to offend you?" Tyler tried. 

**< <sure man. should i call the authorities?>>**

**< <not yet.>>**

"If you must know, this particular being's mere existence offends me. I attempted to give it a chance to prove itself to me and my family by adopting it, but my father was right; felines aren't capable of being domesticated. Besides, its relatives have had a long feud with my people, and I don't intend to show any sympathy towards its kind." Alemya said simply, lifting his foot and pressing it slowly into Finley's neck. The kitten, seemingly near unconsciousness not seconds ago, snapped moon's eyes open and gasped, breath quickly leaving moon's lungs. The tears that had filled moon's eyes before finally spilled over and Finley shook with silent sobs. 

"So what I'm hearing is, you're committing a hate crime." Tyler said, voice still calm but with a slight edge in his voice now.

"Call it what you like. What are you going to do about it?" Alemya sneered, pressing down harder on Finley's neck. Tyler watched as more tears formed in moon's eyes, the kitten struggling to stay conscious. 

"Well for one thing, I'm going to share this video to the authorities." Tyler held up his phone, with which he had discretely been recording the situation with his tail. He kept his phone raised, but subtly hit _stop recording_. 

**< <bring the authorities now, niunde.>> **Tyler thoughtspoke as he watched a flicker of fear flash over Alemya's face. He glanced down just in time to see Finley's eyes roll into the back of moon's head and moon's body go limp. 

"For another thing, I'm going to stand right here, and take a precaution to make sure you don't try to deny anything." Tyler smirked a bit, then muttered under his breath. He watched his magick energy wisp into existence and flit around the elf's lanky body, freezing him in place. Unfortunately that meant that Finley was stuck under Alemya's strong grip, but Tyler could sense multiple auras approaching his position. 

"W-What...What have you-" Alemya grunted through gritted teeth, trying to move his body in any and every way he could - in vain, of course. "Dra-Dragons can't... _ugh-_ "

"Oh yes we can." Tyler grinned. He heard footsteps stomping down the hallway, so he concentrated. Tyler adjusted his posture so he was in more of a defensive stance and as soon as the authorities and Niunde emerged, he let go of the statue-esque magick he'd had wrapped around the elf. He shouted, "Over here!"

Two officers - a cat-human hybrid and a gryphon-human hybrid - ran over to the shell-shocked elf. Two more officers, seemingly humans, dressed in EMT uniforms rushed over to Finley, who must have woken up from the chaos. But moon's eyes were glassy and unfocused, and moon didn't seem to be responding to the paramedics. "Sir, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of-" 

"This is an outrage! I am Alemya Fortescue! I cannot be treated like this!" Alemya struggled in the surprisingly strong grip of the cat as the gryphon handcuffed him. 

"Shut it, pretty boy. Don't make me tase your lanky ass." The gryphon grunted.

Meanwhile, two other officers - a sphinx and a vampire - walked over to Tyler and brought Niunde with them. "Sir, may I have your name and identity please?" The sphinx asked. Tyler glanced at his name tag - _Mikale._

"Tyler Niero, silver/green dragon-human hybrid." He answered smoothly, pulling his ID card out in case they needed it. 

"Can you tell us what happened here?" Mikale asked kindly. The vampire, whose nametag read Zeke, took Tyler's ID card. 

"I heard voices shouting and I was a little concerned, so I came in and saw this elf trying to force my dwarf friend Niunde to hurt this kitten. Niunde left but I stayed because I was unsure of the situation, but the elf told me that the only reason he was hurting the kitten was because the old feud between their species. I also believe that the elf may have adopted the kitten from an illegal hybrid shelter as a pet, since he referred to moon as a "badly behaved pet." So I thoughtspoke to Niunde and asked him to contact the authorities." Tyler explained. 

"Do you happen to know the kitten or if he has any emergency contacts?" Zeke asked. 

"I'm sorry, all I know are moon's name and pronouns. Would it be alright if I accompanied moon to the hospital? I'm really worried that moon was hurt." Tyler asked. 

"First, what are the pronouns and name?" Mikale asked. "Moon/moonself and Finley." 

"Alright. You can ride along in the ambulance with moon but I don't know if you'll be allowed to visit moon yet. We'll see what happens and what moon needs when we get there." Mikale said, reaching out to help guide the stretcher to which Finley was now strapped into the ambulance. 

"Hop in, kid." Zeke smiled sadly, holding the door of the ambulance open for him. Tyler returned the small smile and clambered into the back of the van, curling his long tail around his waist. He sat down and finally got a good look at Finley, shocked at how young moon really was. Moon couldn't have been older than 15 or 16 in human years, not even one year old in cat terms. 

"Identity, calico cat-human hybrid. Name, Finley, surname unknown. Pronouns, moon/moonself, may be nonbinary. Three anterolateral punctures, possibly automatism or dissociation, set into shock..." The paramedic next to Tyler rattled off more medical terms that just meant Finley was more and more hurt. Tyler watched as the rest of the medics in the ambulance rushed around, attaching an oxygen mask to the kitten's face and wrapping bandages all over moon. Tyler sighed and pulled his phone out to text his coven group chat.

**coven <3**

father dragon

um guys i think i'm going to be late to dinner.

old dead thing

what why

mama wolf

Are you alright?

father dragon

i'm alright, but i found a nonbinary stray cat-hybrid being attacked in a

random greenhouse in town, and i'm going to make sure moon's okay.

God

moon's name is finley aer and moon doesn't have any

family. moon's parents were killed in the 90s or something

and moon was taken into an illegal adoption centre when

moon was 3, and definitely has PTSD along with a plethora

of mental health disorders. want me to come with a fake ID and

bring moon into the coven?

watergirl

am i ever going to be that good at magick

God

yes.

father dragon

yeah, come quick. do you know what hospital we're going to?

God

yep. meet you there. also tie your shoelaces. 

father dragon

yes god

* * *

Tyler bounced his leg anxiously 

**Author's Note:**

> ...  
> i tried.  
> hope this was okay, next chapter be comin up


End file.
